The present invention relates generally to scheduling systems, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a multi-facility appointment scheduling system whose implementation and manipulation are handled over global, wide-area, or local-area communications networks.
In many service-related industries, there exists a need to accommodate the schedules of clients who wish to utilize a plurality of services at a multitude of facilities. For instance, in the medical industry, specialization of practices has led to the development of service providers who serve their clients at a variety of locations, one of which may serve as the provider""s central location, or headquarters. For example, a patient (the client), upon the prescription from a physician, may require a procedure to be performed at a specialized facility equipped with specialized equipment. These facilities may either be stand-alone centers or hospitals and service large populations and a great number of physicians. Current methods of scheduling this procedure require a phone conversation with a scheduler at the facility which will provide the service. Since the service could potentially be performed at a variety of sites, the current method could require numerous attempts to contact a variety of facilities before scheduling an appointment at a facility which has the resources (i.e., specific equipment) necessary to provide the service at a time which accommodates the client""s scheduling needs. Given the jumbling of locations, services offered at each location, and variables such as specific practitioners"" specialties or client preferences, scheduling each location""s resources for maximum effectiveness can prove to be burdensome, particularly given the vast amount of data associated with each client""s appointment, including personal and medical histories and insurance and other payment information. The services rendered are performed offsite from the client location, in large part because the costs associated with the equipment necessary to perform such services are so high that individual practitioners ordinarily cannot afford such equipment.
Previous attempts have been made to provide systems through which the scheduling of remote locations may be achieved. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,848,403 to Gabriner et al. (the ""403 patent) describes a genetic algorithm scheduling system which includes a system of encoding and testing hard constraint information. The general scheduling system has information about the scheduling problem, in the form of the resources available for performing tasks, a description of the tasks to be performed, and information about the problem domain.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,842,173 to Strum et al. (the ""173 patent) describes a computer-based surgical services management system for communicating between sites of a surgical services facility. The system includes repeaters, remote access via modems, data archives, reactive and predictive scheduling, analysis, data maintenance, telephone communications. U.S. Pat. No. 5,748,907 to Crane (the ""907 patent) describes a real-time medical facility management system. U.S. Pat. No. 5,469,353 to Pinsky et al. (the ""353 patent) describes a network for providing medical interpretations of radiological images on a national or regional basis. U.S. Pat. No. 5,321,605 to Chapman et al (the ""605 patent) describes a system for managing process flow information related to a multiplicity of interrelated organizational tasks.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,289,531 to Levine (the ""531 patent) describes an electronic rescheduler for promptly and efficiently rescheduling appointments in a two-part procedure. The first step includes the selection of one or more time periods during which a new appointment would be desired, and in the second step a new appointment is chosen from the selected time periods. The system is telephonically-driven. U.S. Pat. No. 5,301,105 to Cummings, Jr. (the ""105 patent) describes a health care management system. U.S. Pat. No. 5,113,380 to Levine (the ""380 patent) describes an electronic rescheduler. U.S. Pat. No. 5,065,315 to Garcia (the ""315 patent) describes a hospital computerized system for entering information pertinent to a patient""s stay in the hospital. U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,743 to Rassman et al. (the ""743 patent) describes a method and system for the prospective scheduling, monitoring and management of resources using a computer system.
None of the foregoing systems, each of which is incorporated herein by reference, provides a system which utilizes technology offering access to each of the remote locations via a global communications network such as the Internet.
None of the foregoing systems provides an efficient system for managing the scheduling of multiple facilities, each of which facilities includes multiple resources for providing a variety of client services, such as different procedures to be performed upon clients, each of which procedures requires a specific type of equipment maintained within particular resources of particular facilities.
Consequently, there is a need in the art for a computer implemented multi-facility scheduling system which enables a remote scheduler to arrange client appointments for a variety of services to be provided at a variety of facilities in an efficient, cost-effective manner.
There is a further need in the art for a multi-facility scheduling system to permit a client, or a person acting on the client""s behalf, to obtain a variety of scheduling options in order to effectively and efficiently schedule appointments available at a variety of locations.
There is a further need in the art for a multi-facility scheduling system which can also be manipulated on a facility-by-facility basis, with interaction among the various facilities via an electronic communications mechanism such as, for example, the global communications network known as the Internet.
The present invention solves significant problems in the art by providing a computer-implemented system for scheduling appointments at a plurality of facilities, each facility including a plurality of areas equipped to provide services.
Generally described, the present invention provides a computer-implemented method of scheduling an appointment at a plurality of facilities providing a plurality of services, comprising receiving a packet of client information from a client, the client information including personal data, service data, client appointment preference data, and payment data; comparing the service data to a set of service constraints in order to determine any limitations on the scheduling of the appointment; inputting the client information into a scheduling server; verifying the client information; generating a predetermined number of appointment candidates based upon an analysis of the client information and the appointment scheduling limitations; communicating the appointment candidates to the client; generating an appointment based upon the client""s selection of one of the appointment candidates; generating appointment information related to the appointment, the appointment information including the client information, the service constraints, an appointment date, an appointment time, the identity of the available facility, and the resources to be utilized; reporting at least a portion of the appointment information to the client and all of the client information to the available facility; and confirming the appointment in the scheduling server.
In a preferred embodiment, the present invention also comprises a data processing system for scheduling an appointment at a plurality of facilities providing a plurality of services, comprising a receiver for receiving a packet of client information from a client, the client information including personal data, service data, client appointment preference data, and payment data; a constraint determiner for comparing the service data to a set of service constraints in order to determine any limitations on the scheduling of the appointment; an inputter for inputting the client information into a scheduling server; a verifier for verifying the client information; a candidate generator for generating a predetermined number of appointment candidates based upon an analysis of the client information and the appointment scheduling limitations; a candidate communicator for communicating the appointment candidates to the client; an appointment generator for generating an appointment based upon the client""s selection of one of the appointment candidates; an appointment information generator for generating appointment information related to the appointment, the appointment information including the client information, the service constraints, an appointment date, an appointment time, the identity of the available facility, and the resources to be utilized; an appointment information reporter for reporting at least a portion of the appointment information to the client and all of the client information to the available facility; and an appointment confirmer for confirming the appointment in the scheduling server.
In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes the step of allowing appointments to be rescheduled or canceled, and the data processing system includes an appointment modifier for rescheduling or canceling appointments.
In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, the step of receiving the packet of client information is accomplished via the Internet, a local area network, or a wide area network.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a computer-implemented method of scheduling an appointment at a plurality of facilities providing a plurality of services.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a data processing system for scheduling an appointment at a plurality of facilities providing a plurality of services.
These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following specification when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.